🕒: Three minutes
Want to purchase a franchise but not sure if you can afford it?
There are are a number of ways to reduce your start-up costs, simply by choosing the right franchise and the right financing. Here are some simple ways you can make a franchise cheaper for yourself, without giving up on your dream of owning a business.
1. Choose the right franchise for your skills
The first step when considering a franchise is to consider the franchise industry to which you are bested suited. In which areas of business do you have experience? Are you great at customer service, or with children, or do you have creative flair?
One of the most valuable assets you can have when starting out is experience working in a similar business or area. This will make you more efficient and less likely to make mistakes in those crucial first stages.
2. Part-time franchises
If you don’t feel you have the funds to pay yourself a wage while you wait to make a profit, why not consider a part-time franchise? This means you can continue to work in your current job and work on your new business out of hours. Once you are comfortable with the amount of money your franchise is making, you can then switch to running the business full time if you wish.
3. Work from home
Another way to make a franchise cheaper for yourself is to cut the costs involved in renting retail or office premises by working from home instead. Provided you don’t need to make any structural changes to your home, this can save you a considerable amount of money, and you will not need to invest in items such as furniture or a computer if you already have these at home.
4. Online franchises
A franchise which relies on the internet to sell goods or services rather than a retail outlet is more often than not a cheaper option. It also brings with it the ability to take your business to where your customers are, using cost effective online marketing platforms such as display advertising, social media and search engine optimisation.
There is, therefore, the potential to reach a much wider audience. This also eliminates the costs of maintenance, cleaning or refurbishing which are involved in traditional shop or office premises.
5. Financing your franchise
Finding finance for the start-up of your chosen franchise opportunity can be costly, so if you’re trying to make things cheaper for yourself it is important to explore avenues which don’t involve borrowing with high interest rates. One way to do this is to get funding from willing friends or family members who aren’t looking to charge you interest. Another is to seek a business start-up grant, which may not need to be repaid at all.
Finally, take a look at the range of low investment franchise opportunities on our website, where you’ll find details of each opportunity with the initial investment amount required to set up. You might be surprised at the opportunities on offer and what you can afford.
<h4>To find your perfect franchise, take a look at the wide range of opportunities in our A-Z Directory.</h4>